Themes by tag: dead

These events are set to unfold across at least 16 cities in Ukraine.

On March 15, demonstrations are planned in Khmelnytskyi and Krolevets (Sumy region). 

The following day, March 16, actions will unfold in Dnipro, Pavlohrad, Vinnytsia, and Zaporizhia. 

March 17 will see gatherings in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kremenchuk, Kovel, Ovruch (Zhytomyr region), Kryvyi Rih, Ternopil, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Drohobych.

These events are spearheaded by families of prisoners of war from the besieged Mariupol garrison.

For reference: On March 16, 2022, Russian forces dropped an air bomb on the Mariupol Drama Theater, where civilians, including children, sought refuge since the onset of the full-blown war. The devastating air strike resulted in the loss of several hundred lives.

• casualties
• dead
• prisoners
• russian crimes

“Darling, I Live on!” is a psychological support project for women who lost their husbands in the war. It operates in Zaporizhia.

In March 2023, activist Yaryna Herashchenko was approached by a family friend who had lost her military husband who asked her for support. Then the women came up with the idea to create the project “Darling, I Live on!” Yaryna’s mother, who is a psychologist, got involved as well.

Over the course of a year, 22 participants joined the project. As part of the initiative, women receive psychological aid and support on their way to recovery. In particular, they take part in various activities: archery, yoga and Thai boxing. Women also participate in field sessions. For example, on the island of Khortytsia, the participants wrote letters to their loved ones, made small paper boats from their messages and sent them down the Dnipro. They also treated each other to their loved ones’ favorite dishes.

The participants are also taking part in two photo projects: “Memory of you” (photos with memorabilia that help the participants tell the stories of their husbands) and “Darling, I Live on!” (“awakening photo shoot”). Group 4 meetings will start in March.

• dead
• military
• psychological support
• women
• Zaporizhzhia

Lutsk resident Tetiana Pototska had been originally running a travel agency that specialized in organizing pilgrimage trips abroad until February 2022, Tetiana shifted her focus when the full-scale invasion began. Moved by a friend’s inability to transport her father’s body from Kharkiv to Lutsk, Tetiana stepped in to assist and has since been tirelessly evacuating fallen soldiers’ remains and transporting them to morgues.

Beyond her duties in retrieving the fallen, Tetiana extends her aid to Ukrainians trapped in occupied regions, particularly those with limited mobility, helping them return to government-controlled territory. Additionally, she devotes herself to caring for the children of fallen defenders, arranging celebratory events and outings to the seaside for them.

Those wishing to interview Tetiana can reach her both offline in Lutsk or through online channels. She is gearing up for another journey to Eastern Ukraine soon.

• dead
• volunteers
• women
• Lutsk

From March 1 to June 1, Modern Ukraine charity foundation will organize and conduct art therapy master classes in Poltava, Odesa, Vinnytsia, Fastiv, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Yuzhne, and Kyiv. There will be more than 20 master classes in total. Women who lost their loved ones in the war will take part in the events. The paintings created at the master classes will be shown at exhibitions in Dnipro, Odesa, Ivano-Frankivsk, Novovolynsk and Volodymyr.

“Zhyva. True Love Stories” project is a volunteer initiative that helps Ukrainian women who are experiencing the loss of husbands and fiancés to rediscover the meaning of life and channel their pain into creativity.

More than 100 women have already participated in “Zhyva. TRUE LOVE STORIES” project – they created paintings in memory of their husbands and wrote their own stories for these canvases. Many paintings were on display in the regional exhibitions “PAINTING WITH HEART,” which took place during 2023-2024 in Kyiv, Lviv and Lutsk.

In December 2024, Modern Ukraine foundation will organize a nationwide exhibition featuring works by the participants of the “Zhyva” project in Kyiv.

Journalists are invited to learn more about the project and cover it.

• dead
• military
• women

Maryna and Mykola are both military, they met in 2019 in the army. The woman had two daughters from a previous marriage — Olena and Oleksandra. Mykola also has a daughter named Milana. At first, the family lived in Mariupol, Donetsk region (now the city is occupied), then they moved to Berdiansk, Zaporizhia region (now the city is occupied).

The couple served in the Azov brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine. In 2020, Mykola resigned from the Azov and joined the marines. Maryna’s contract ended in November 2021, but she did not want to leave her brothers in arms.

When the full-scale invasion began, Maryna, along with other Azov defenders of Mariupol ended up at the Azovstal plant (i.e. Iron and Steel Works where fierce battles with the enemy took place in the spring of 2022). Mykola wanted to switch with Marina and go to Azovstal instead of her. The woman persuaded him not to do this, because at the checkpoint the russians shot three guys who were on the way to meet their girlfriends, and many others who broke through to the plant went missing. Even then Maryna understood that she and other military personnel were unlikely to get out of the Azovstal alive. And she asked her husband to take care of her daughters. On May 8, 2022, the woman died in a fire at the Azovstal.

Now Mykola is fighting for the right to adopt his deceased wife’s daughters and give them a happy future. He is purchasing a three-room apartment for the girls in Kyiv region so they could live together as a family.

With the help of the Children of Heroes Fund, Maryna’s daughters received gifts and visited a rehabilitation camp, which helped them to distract themselves from terrible memories and disturbing thoughts.

For reference: the defense of Mariupol lasted 86 days. Following the order of the command, the Ukrainian defenders stopped putting up the defense, left Azovstal and surrendered to the enemy. On May 20, 2022, Mariupol was occupied by russia.

The Children of Heroes Charity Fund supports children who have lost one or both parents due to russia’s full-scale invasion. The fund offers financial aid as well as psychological and legal support. The organization helps these children with education and development until they reach adulthood.

As of the beginning of February, 7,889 wards are under the care of the Fund. Of them, 1,062 are IDPs, 151 children have lost their mother and father, 177 are children with disabilities, 970 are children from large families. Every week about 80 children are included into the list of the recipients of the fund’s help. Among the fund’s children, 88% are kids of military personnel, while the remaining 12% are civilians.

• casualties
• children
• dead
• military
• women
• Kyiv

Teaming up with partners, the Maidan Museum has put together a series of events to honor the Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes.

On February 18, Kyiv will host a solemn gathering at Mariinsky Park to remember those who lost their lives on February 18, 2014. Additionally, a poignant Memory Walk will traverse the Kyiv city center, paying tribute to the Heavenly Hundred with the laying of flowers and lighting of candles.

February 20 will see the Ecumenical Church of the Archangel Michael and the Ukrainian New Martyrs in the capital hosting a ceremony to commemorate the Heavenly Hundred Heroes and participants of the Revolution of Dignity. Concurrently, the annual silent tribute “Angels of Memory” will unfold nearby, honoring those who fell during the Revolution of Dignity.

February 22 will feature a themed evening titled “Plyve Kacha (A Duckling Swims): A Song that Became a Requiem” at the Maidan Museum’s Information and Exhibition Center.

Furthermore, the Maidan Museum will organize exhibitions, documentary screenings, and guided tours throughout the week in Kyiv.

Journalists seeking further information about the events in Kyiv and insights from representatives of the Maidan Museum can access the full schedule of events.

For reference: On February 20, 2014, the Revolution of Dignity saw its highest toll with 48 participants losing their lives in the heart of the Ukrainian capital. These individuals, along with 54 others killed or fatally wounded during the peaceful protests of the winter of 2013-2014, and five Maidan activists who perished in the spring of 2014 defending democratic values and Ukraine’s territorial integrity, collectively became known as the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred.

• dead
• Kyiv

Oleksii Yukov leads the search squad for the “Platsdarm” Association of Military and Historical Heritage Researchers. Since 2014, Yukov and his team have been dedicated to locating and recovering the remains of fallen Ukrainians, whether they be military personnel or civilians. Yukov’s commitment to this mission is unwavering, as evidenced by his near-death encounter with occupiers in 2014 while carrying out his duties.

Operating amidst gunfire and facing the danger of the enemy frequently booby-traping the corpses of fallen, Yukov and his team encounter grim scenes, often discovering bodies that have been subjected to torture or mangled by passing vehicles and enemy tanks. 

Notably, the team undertook a search for bodies underneath rubble at the Kramatorsk tragedy site, where a Russian Tochka-U missile struck the city’s railway station on April 8, 2022. This devastating attack claimed the lives of 61 individuals and left 121 others injured.

Currently, the search team remains active in the eastern region of the country.

For reference: As February 24, 2024, marks the grim two-year anniversary of Russia’s criminal incursion into Ukraine. It stands as the apex of a decade-long war of aggression, which actually dates back to February 20, 2014, beginning with the annexation of Crimea. Russian forces invaded Ukrainian Crimea without any identifying markings and, after that, seized control of the peninsula back then. Subsequently, these events escalated into war in eastern Ukraine.

• dead
• military
• volunteers
• evacuation

On February 13, the Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform will hold a press conference presenting this year’s program of events and social campaign dedicated to the Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes, marked on February 20.

Participants:

– Rostyslav Karandieiev, acting First Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy;

– Ihor Hordiichuk, Major General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Hero of Ukraine, Deputy Head of the National Defense University of Ukraine;

– Volodymyr Tylishchak, Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance;

– Ihor Poshyvailo, General Director at the National Memorial Complex of Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred — Museum of the Revolution of Dignity.

The event is held offline. Journalists will be able to ask questions.

For reference: On February 20 this year, Ukraine will commemorate the Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes for the tenth time. The Maidan massacre that took place on February 20, 2014, claimed the lives of the largest number of protesters — 48 casualties in the center of Kyiv. They, along with 54 others gunned down and fatally wounded participants of peaceful protests during the winter of 2013-2014 and five Maidan uprising activists who died in the spring of 2014 defending democratic values and the territorial integrity of Ukraine, became known as the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred.

• dead
• Kyiv

On January 30, the press conference “Dialogue in Russian: “Black Register of Executions, Tortures and Cases of Inhumane Treatment of the Civilian Population” will be held at Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform. Freerights Human Rights Association, a part of the Ukraine 5 AM Coalition, will present the “Black Register of Executions, Tortures and Cases of Inhumane Treatment of the Civilian Population in the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine,” and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) will showcase the Roadmap for Investigating Torture and Enforced Disappearances, in order to incorporate recorded cases to criminal investigation and ensure further inevitability of punishment of those responsible for war crimes.

Participants:

• Anastasiia Malynka, Freerights Human Rights Association information manager (in person);
• Maryia Kvitsinskaya, Expert on Europe and Central Asia at the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) (online);
• A representative of the Division for Interaction with State, Non-Governmental, and International Organizations of the Office of the Prosecutor General’s Department for Combating Crimes Committed During Armed Conflict (speaker to be announced).

The event will be held within the framework of the cooperation between Ukraine 5 AM Coalition with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

For reference: Ukraine 5 AM Coalition started working on February 25, 2022, the day after russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Today, there are 38 NGOs and four individual experts in the Coalition. They combined their efforts to systematically document war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the russian armed aggression against Ukraine. The Coalition also protects victims of the russo-Ukrainian war through state and international mechanisms of justice.

• casualties
• dead
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Dog handlers from Denmark, who came to Ukraine to join the Antares search and rescue team, are currently training at the Pavlohrad dog training center in the Dnipro region. The foreign specialists plan to join dog-and-handler teams in its mission. For Antares, it’s the first experience working with foreign dog handlers planning to join the canine search team. Soon, specialists from Poland will also arrive at the dog training and fielding center.

For reference: The Antares Search and Rescue Dog Team was founded in 2008. Until 2014, the team was getting the dogs training in a search profile for missing civilians, who were still alive, and the dogs weren’t trained specifically to find dead bodies, so finding human remains rather than a live person wasn’t their forte. But in 2017, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine began to involve Antares unit SAR dogs and canine handlers sprung into action assisting the search for the dead. Now highly trained search resources are also used by the National Police, the State Emergency Service, and the Security Service of Ukraine. In March 2023, Larysa Borysenko, the head of the professional canine SAR team, was injured due to an explosion triggered by a trip wire during a search in the Kharkiv region. She has already undergone treatment and returned to work.

• animals
• dead
• Dnipro